"I think the fans have been super. I think they're going to watch the team grow. It's a rebirth, a repeat of how they grew and won the division [in 1986-87]. I think this is the beginning."

At the risk of sounding like the Grinch who stole Christmas, the facts: 14-34-4. Ottawa 5, Hartford 2 Thursday.

There's almost a surreal atmosphere plugged into the Civic Center these days. Everybody wants to talk about the glory of the future without paying for the present. Here's the catch: You, the season ticket holder, have to pay the freight for the $10 million payroll.

Turn on the radio and you hear how well the Whalers are playing on the way to an 8-3 loss in Vancouver. Turn on the TV and you hear the positives being extolled on the way to a 6-3 home loss to Winnipeg. Even this weathered scribe occasionally has bitten into the future without a budding Mario Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky to back it up. Maybe the Whalers should hand out crystal balls instead of press credentials.

But it's from Verbeek's lips that makes it so fascinating. He used to be the Splendid Splinter. He argued with the labor venom of Jimmy Hoffa last year when the players went on strike.

When he thought the Hartford fans picked on his team a few years ago, he told them they didn't deserve hockey. And when former general manager Ed Johnston tried to shortchange him on a contract, he walked off the team for a month.

But Verbeek is the captain now. He got the three-year, $3.3 million contract he wanted. And perhaps because he hasn't regained his goal-scoring touch of past years, he has joined the rest of the silent sheep.

Except for Jamie Leach voicing his disappointment for being waived one game before his full NHL salary kicked in, the Whalers' locker room is a home without creative tension. If it isn't, general manager Brian Burke, coach Paul Holmgren and team leaders sure have done a magnificent job of hiding it.

In an out-of-town paper the other day, Holmgren was quoted as saying when he was hired Burke told him the Whalers might have over-achieved with 65 points last season. We thought John Cullen and Verbeek led a disappointing campaign. A fifth-place, 70-point prediction seemed justified for this year. But what the heck. Let's change that to fifth place and 55 points. Before this season is through, the Whalers are going to exceed all expectations with a 24-52-8 record.

Not surprisingly, the fans don't boo much at the Civic Center. Club Whale, sans expectations, incurs little wrath. It is a comfortable existence in the NHL's sewer.

Owner Richard Gordon threatens to move the team to Ledyard if he doesn't get a good lease. On the talk shows, Burke chides anybody who suggests Holmgren isn't up to snuff. And Paul Gillis, who can no longer make any contribution on the ice beyond hurting people with his stick, is allowed to snarl at the media if he doesn't like what he reads.

In the meantime, the Whalers are building one of the worst records of the past 15 years in the NHL.

It's called sticking together. That's why Nick Kypreos attacked Igor Ulanov in the closing seconds Saturday night. Ulanov had gotten a gratuitous shot at Eric Weinrich in the second period. And if the Whalers can't win games, at least they can try to win the fights.

My taste for blood doesn't run as deep as the current regime's. Burke likes it mean and the Whalers' penalty-minute total, hovering second in the NHL behind Chicago's, reflects it. So does the lineup. But one man's brawler is another man's courageous, grinding forward. Indeed, one can argue with some merit the Whalers got pushed around at times last season.

But what isn't open to debate is the Whalers' 3-14-1 record since Christmas. The whole idea is the Whalers are supposed to improve as the season wears on.

The penalty-killing, which can't sustain all the penalties the team takes, and the power play are near the bottom of the league. Yet the Whalers have hesitated committing to playing kids such as Robert Petrovicky and Mark Greig.

"We have to rally around improvement," Verbeek said. "If I think back to all the games we lost, especially the close ones, we should have 10-12 more points easily than we have now." And this team is desperate for as many as three quality defensemen. It will not improve markedly until it makes some moves. This means Verbeek, Craven or even one of the quality young forwards could be traded. The pressure is on Burke to improve this team. And that pressure should be felt in the locker room. Camaraderie and management-player cooperation is nice. Improvement is better.

It seems only Zalapski comes under intense public scrutiny from the team hierarchy. And guess what? Zalapski's play has improved.

But what about the other 25 players? When you lose to Ottawa and you're 14-34-4, there should be no sacred cows